Mark 6:30-31 And the apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.… It will amply repay the pilgrim to turn aside sometimes from the beaten track; for the incidental teachings of the Blessed Life, like the wild flowers of the glen, or the fern sheltering in the fissure, or the silver stream dripping from the rock, or the still pool with its myriad beauties, are no inconsiderable element in the attainment of that wisdom whose ways are pleasantness, and whose paths are peace. The lessons of the story are broad and obvious. Foregoing the lessons of this story as a whole, it will be profitable to give our attention to that one feature of it which is enshrined in the words: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." I. For with what graphic force do the words on which the Master's invitation was based DESCRIBE THE UNREST OF TODAY — "There were many coming and going." We meet it everywhere. On all sides one is brought face to face with work — exciting, bewildering, exhausting. This is not an eccentricity, an abnormal and therefore transitional phenomenon; it is a necessity of the times. The energy which at one time commanded a fortune is now needed to win one's daily bread. Inventions which once excited the wonder of the world are now regarded as curiosities. The scholarship which a century ago secured a European reputation now provokes a smile. This is growing upon us. Such a state of things cannot be viewed without anxiety. Physiologically, or from the standpoint of the political economist, this wear and tear of life is serious. In the home life of today the absorbing interests of the outside world are telling with terrible force. But it is in its influence upon the moral and religious life that the present unrest is to be viewed with the gravest anxiety. The claims of the day upon a man's thought, energy, time, are not only perilous; they are fatal to the true and healthy growth of the soul; and where there is no growth there is decay. II. THE PRESERVATIVE AGAINST THE DANGERS OF THE PREVALENT UNREST AND EXCITEMENT which the words of the Master suggest — "Come ye...and rest awhile." For there is no peril, no necessity, to which the resources of Divine grace and sympathy are not adjusted. It might seem superfluous to dwell, even for a moment, on the imperative need there is for physical rest in these days when there are "many coming and going." (R. N. Young, D. D) Parallel Verses KJV: And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. |
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